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Dartford manager Steve King reacts to their 2-1 National League South play-off semi-final victory at Havant & Waterlooville

Steve King praised the togetherness of his Dartford squad after their comeback victory over Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday.

His team were 1-0 down at half-time in their National League South play-off semi-final but two second-half goals from striker Darren McQueen turned the game around for the Darts.

Dartford manager Steve King. Picture: Chris Davey
Dartford manager Steve King. Picture: Chris Davey

The result leaves Dartford just one win away from promotion to the National League.

They will travel to Weymouth next Saturday with kick-off for the match - set to be played behind closed doors - at 1pm.

Manager King said: "I have been saying all along, this group has character.

"They go from strength-to-strength, really, and they surprise me every week.

"I think the togetherness has been brilliant and that is formed by winning games."

A change in system and personnel at the interval following a double substitution did the trick for Dartford at Westleigh Park after Jonah Ayunga had put the Hampshire outfit ahead with 14 minutes played, although the Hawks were reduced to 10 men just before half-time with Josh Taylor sent off.

McQueen then fired past home keeper Ross Worner to put the Darts level after the restart, before McQueen converted his second of the match from the penalty spot.

On his starting line-up, King admitted: "I got it a little bit wrong.

"I felt, tactically, I picked a system that I thought was going to work according to what the strengths of the opposition were.

"We knew we were going to have to defend a lot of balls into the box - a lot of throws, free-kicks and all that stuff.

"I went with an extra centre-half and played with wing-backs.

"It didn’t work for us. We didn’t get out as much as we really would have liked to.

"I noticed that and then, at half-time, we changed the shape.

"We went back to our traditional 4-3-3 and, from that point, we were in control of the game.

"We missed some chances and they missed one very massive chance at the end of the game, but we should have put the game to bed long before that with the chances that we had."

The performance of substitute Ky Marsh-Brown particularly impressed King.

"I think Marsh-Brown came on and changed the whole game," said King.

"He was outstanding, absolutely outstanding.

"For 40 minutes, they could not get near him."

Match report: Havant & Waterlooville 1 Dartford 2

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